Music video shooting method - Continuous Shot

The band Ok Go are not only famous for their music, but also for their insanely detailed videos that use continuous shots of the band members interacting in some way with random objects that end up making either music or even just a fun domino effect that makes for a rather impressive video.

Yet another example of a continuous shot is the film Touch Of Evil, Best known for its 3 and a half minute long opening that was expertly coriographed
     

Shooting Location Photos (draft)

Here are a few photos of locations we will be shooting at for our video.

Animatic

Here Is the animatic version of our storyboard. This process of using the images from our storyboard in video format helps us understand the duration of shots that will work, and also turns the stage of Ideas, into a real thing.

Here Is Our Animatic Storyboard.

Props and costume

For our video, Costume and Props are going to be vital key aspects needed when shooting our footage. Here is a list of what we'll need and what we will need the for...


Props; The props that we will need are going to play a huge part in our video, as we will need to use them to tell the story.

• Instruments. 

These are the main props needed for this video as they are what our band will be using to make music at the end of the video e.g. Guitars, Bass Guitar, Drums etc.

• Backpacks

The setting for our video is going to be in a school/college environment, so our characters are going to need to look as though they are students. By using backpacks that are commonly used as school equipment, the audience can relate to the characters being young musicians that are still in education.

• Folders

One of the scenes are of a characters folder blowing away in the wind and the papers flying everywhere.

• Watch

Another planned scene for the video is when one of the character looks at their watch to check the time.


Costume; Our costume will need to be in-keeping with the colour pallet choices we have chosen previously, but at the same time, stand out enough so that the attention is drawn to the character.
Dark clothing is our choice of costume with the odd lighter element drawing attention towards them. The main colour choices are most likely to be;

• Black's
• Grey's
• White's 
• Bluey colours (both light and dark shades)

Audience Research Surveys

I posted a short survey on Facebook with a few questions about music videos. Here are the only replies I got that were okay, I've copied and pasted the text from the comments below into a neater order.


Name: Keavey Henshaw

What Genre(s) Of Music Do You Listen To?
I listen to metal and rock

When Do You Listen To Music?
Every day all day

How Do You Listen To Music?
Spotify

Do You Watch Music Videos Very Often?
No

Do You Prefer Fast Or Slow Music?
Fast

Name: Jason Davies

What Genre(s) Of Music Do You Listen To?

Any genre

When Do You Listen To Music?

When on the go

How Do You Listen To Music?

Itunes on my phone

Do You Watch Music Videos Very Often?

Sometimes

Do You Prefer Fast Or Slow Music?

A mixture of the both

Name: Kate Greene

What Genre(s) Of Music Do You Listen To?

Indie and pop

When Do You Listen To Music?

All of the time

How Do You Listen To Music?

Itunes

Do You Watch Music Videos Very Often?

Yes

Do You Prefer Fast Or Slow Music?

Mostly slow, but I like either

Name: Hannah Thomas

What Genre(s) Of Music Do You Listen To?

Any

When Do You Listen To Music?

In the car on the radio

How Do You Listen To Music?

Radio

Do You Watch Music Videos Very Often?

No

Do You Prefer Fast Or Slow Music?

Fast

Name: Tait Miles

What Genre(s) Of Music Do You Listen To?

Rap

When Do You Listen To Music?

All the time 

How Do You Listen To Music?

Phone

Do You Watch Music Videos Very Often?

No

Do You Prefer Fast Or Slow Music?

Fast

Audience Reasearch

For audience research into making a music video, I looked at what fans of our chosen artist also look at both on Amazon and Spotify. 

On Amazon, I searched the album that our chosen song appears on Love And Death - Between Here And Lost. At the bottom of the page, there is a section all about other related bands who's merchandise have either been purchased along with this album, or are albums and singles by artists that are of the same genre.... 

Here are 7 other albums bought by customers on Amazon;

•  KoЯn - The Paradigm Shift
• Machine Head - Bloodstone And Diamonds
• Slipknot - The Grey Chapter
• Fear And The Nervous System Album
• Mushroomhead - The Righteous & The Butterfly
• Scar The Martyr Album
• Killer Be Killed Album

I also looked on Spotify to find related and most popular artists that are linked in with Love And Death...

Here are 8 of the related artists to love and death;

• Brian "Head" Welch
• Demon Hunter
• Project 86
• The Showdown
• War Of Ages
• Blindside
• Haste The Day
• We As Human

To conclude my audience research, I have made a survey asking our potential audience questions to help with coming up with ideas and give me and my group a bit of an understanding of what the people would like to see.

Please Click This Link Below!

Audience Research Survey, please click here.

This link takes you straight to the survey, please answer truthfully so we can 

get a better result and understanding.

Story Board

It was now time to start putting Ideas together in the form of a story board in order to make it easier for us to get an Idea of the shots we will need, equipment we will need, and the length of shot that will also be needed.

It is also a great way for our group to see what we are aiming for rather than all of us having a different ideas, and the whole thing being a mess of un-readable narrative.

Record Label Tooth And Nail Records

Tooth And Nail Records are a record company based in Seattle in the United States Of America.
The label was founded in 1993 and support a variety of different artists from a variety of different music genres such as;

• The Almost
• Anberlin
• Artifex Pereo
• I Am Empire
• Icon For Hire
• Kings Kaleidoscope
• The Letter Black
• Matt & Toby
• Midnight Alive
• New Empire
• Number One Gun
• Aaron Sprinkle
• Nine Lashes
• And our chosen artist Love and Death

Colour pallets

For the music video, we want to reflect the emotion of the song and to show the situation of the acting rolls. In order to do this we need to make sure our colour pallet choices fit the bill. We have done some research based upon the band we have chosen and other artist's videos to look at what they have used too.

Examples are....

Love And Death's colour pallet...

Love and Death mostly use rather dull and desaturated colours in their work, such as whites and greys in their costume choices, against dark, almost black backgrounds. In the video of the song we chose however, the setting is based in a children's play barn, so the costumes were bright yellow shirts, but when set against the dull background, they created a sense of abnormality, which worked when setting the mood of the video,



Here are two examples of Love And Death using a more monochromatic approach...





Some other artists who use desaturated colour pallets...

Beartooth - The Lines

In this video we researched, the artists have used a very desaturated colour pallet, but at the same time there is a noticeable greenish hue to the footage...





Thousand Foot Krutch - Favourite Disease

With this video being based around war, the artist use a desaturated colour pallet to convey the feelings of emotion, fear, anger, pain and loneliness that are associated with the ideas of war...






P.O.D - Murdered Love

This video is

Acting roles for music video

• Luke Williams Powell (me) - Playing Drums/ Acting role
• Kieran Roberts - Playing Guitar/ Acting role
• Josh Zeiler - Vocalist/ Acting role
• Keavey Henshaw - Bass Guitar/ Acting role

The setting for the shooting of the footage will take place in Wem and at Thomas Adams College/School, as what were aiming for is having the actors all experiencing something going wrong for them throughout the day, reflecting the story behind the song about people having a meltdown (losing their temper). After all of the actors have lost their temper, they all get together and perfoem the song when the "meltdown" happens. 

Asking for permission from the artist

Before we get started with the shooting of the video, we need to ask for permission to use the song.
I went ahead and contacted the bands management team Straight 8 Entertainment via their website. So far we have had no reply, but we hope they will get in contact with us rather soon.

Love and Death - Meltdown Lyrics

I think I’m having a meltdown                                                   

I feel the tension

(I feel the tension)

Confessions told

(Tell me, tell me everything)

Insanity is taking over

The fantasies are driving me mad

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Controlling me losing it all

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Just take away the tears

I’m suffocating, don’t leave me here waiting

The cry within

(Cry within)

The flesh is bold

(Tell me, tell me everything)

Calamity is waiting silent

The razor is cutting the pain and letting it out

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Controlling me losing it all

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Just take away the tears

I’m suffocating, don’t leave me here waiting

Over and over in my head

I see your scars

Remember the day when we first met

Take me back

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

Before

Never let go

Before I fold

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Controlling me losing it all

You know that I am heading for a meltdown

Just take away the tears

I’m suffocating, don’t leave me here waiting

Meltdown

For a meltdown

Meltdown

Change of song, Love and death - Meltdown

Because of an incident involving copyright issues with Linkin Park - Qwerty, our group have had to change songs. Our choice of song now is Meltdown by Love and Death.

Chosen Song Linkin Park - Qwerty

Our chosen song to create a music video for is Linkin Park Qwerty. We have chosen to do this song as it hasn't got a video, so that means we have some fresh ideas for videos rather than having a reference to a video like in some other songs we may have chosen. It is also one of the only songs we have looked at that has no video.

Possible song choices

This is a list of songs and artists our group have looked at that could be a possible choice of song for us to use in our own music video.

Limp Bizkit - My Generation

P.O.D - Murdered Love

Linkin Park - Qwerty

Papa Roach - To Be Loved

Thousand Foot Crutch - War of change

Nine Lashes - Anthem Of The Lonely

Music Video Analysis 3

3). Foo Fighters - Walk

Date: Jun 17, 2011

Label: RCA records

Genre: Alternative rock, Post grunge

Director: Sam Jones

Mise en scene:

• Rather dull colour pallet, in a dull city to start with using browns, greys and whites to reflect the misery the singer is being put through
• costume, Singer is dressed rather formally 
• set in the daytime
• character caries a guitar case around with him most of the way through the video before playing the guitar at the end.

Camerawork:

• a variety of different shots such as close up, mid shot, long shot
• at the beginning of the video, the camera is a bit more shaky like its being filmed free hand
• also an establishing shot/aspect to aspect sequence at the beginning setting the scene of the band member being caught up in traffic due to  road works
• shallow focus points used to keep the attention aimed at the band member/members.
• fluid use of the 180 degree rule

Editing:

• An array of establishing setting using an aspect to aspect sequence made from editing together different shots of the characters situation.
• many cuts to different shots that express the band members anger/frustration
• jump cuts of the band members facial expressions in the car while still using the same shot size and angle, cutting from one expression to another, showing the stages of rage he's going through.

Performance:

• Main character acts angry, with many things making him even more annoyed, and then releases his anger when singing and playing guitar at the end.
• all of the other band members act in the video too, reoccurring as different character each time, always causing some annoyance to the singer.
• throughout the video, the main singer is lip syncing to the lyrics.
• then whole band play at the end of the video, acting as their normal selves, practasing their music in a warehouse.

Music Video Analysis 2

2). Drowning Pool - Bodies

Date: May 14, 2001

Label:Wind-up records

Genre: Nu Metal

Director: Glen Bennett

Audience: Nu metal/ metal fans

Mise en scene:

• Set in a mental asylum
• very desaturated colours add to the erie vibe
• black and white clothing, very desaturated
• certain scenes set at night time

Camerawork:

• Use of fish-eye lenses to simulate looking hole through a door and also the lens of surveillance cameras
• panning using a track and dolly
• close up shots
• High and low angled shots
• Breaking the 180 degree rule to make the audience feel disorientated

Editing:

• Jump cuts occur very often to match the fast pace of the song
• footage of the band and actors appear on the screen of the TV
• shot reverse shot style of editing the footage where two different shots are constantly being switched between each other
• shots switch when the singer counts down to the chorus

Performance:

• Actor in the chair does a very believable performance of a mental patient.
• singer performs as a doctor in a mental ward
• Band are rather hyper when performing the song with instruments 

Music Video Analysis 1

These are the 5 Music videos I have chosen to analyse for reading week. They all link in with the genre I hope to base my music video around.


1). System Of A Down - Chop Suey!
Date: 13th August 2001
Label: SONY BMG MUSIC
Genre: Alternative Metal
Director: Marcos Siega
Audience: Metal fans

Mise en Scene:

• Performance is set in front of crowd
• huge lights light up stage
• performed on a stage
• set in the car park of a motel

Camerawork:

• fish eye lenses used very frequently
• use of jib to get high angles
• harnessed camera to chest to get a view of the artists faces
• both high and low angles
• shots from above zooming out
• overhead shots
•  long shots
•  close up
•  panning
• over shoulder shot.

Editing:

• artists melt through each other on stage
• artists teleport around stage
• many cuts to reflect the fast pace of the song
• 
  

Performance:

• Instrument playing
• over exaggerated facial expressions
• Dancing 
• audience still until the music plays then they start dancing

Experimenting using track and dolly

Here are a series of photos taken of the class as we all experimented with different ways of using and operating a track and dolly for making a music video. The whole class worked together to set up the equipment for shooting, helped to film, act as extras/other band members in the background of shot, and we also used different man made effects like using a drinking glass to distort the image when filming. The outcome of this experiment has given up all a good overview of how to use the track and dolly effectively in our music videos, and also has given us ideas to include too. Here are the images that were taken...

Bullivard of broken dreams experiment

This is an experiment that was aimed to help us understand the use of over cranking. Over cranking is a method of filming where the singer/artist is filmed performing at twice the normal film rate. once the footage is slowed back down again to normal speed, the artist seems as though their in slow motion but their still in time with the music. this makes for a very interesting effect.